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How do I get the Reason synths to sound more modern?

It seems that every time i write something electronic and synthy for any kind If Project I am always critiqued that my synth sounds are dated. What this means is that the Reason patches sound dated. How do I fix this and not spend a lot of time?

It seems that every time i write something electronic and synthy for any kind If Project I am always critiqued that my synth sounds are dated. What this means is that the Reason patches sound dated. How do I fix this and not spend a lot of time?

Wow! Critiqued this is the life of an artists for sure everything we do we want to share and with it comes the C word. Dated sound is in for those who like it and out for those that don't. The main thing is for you to be able to get the sound you are after.
Why don't you post a sample of what people are saying is dated and we can look into it and see if it really is dated, not that it matters, and see how we could change it.

I think i do get what they mean actually. Its not the Reason synths themself that are the (ahum)"issue". I believe its the way you use Reason

Nowadays we have the option to get big chains of processing to enhacnge the sound in a way, that in the old hardware domain was either impossible, or would've costs thousand and thousand of dollars worth of equipment.

Were i wanna go is that, if you use reason the "oldskool" hardware way (hooking a synth directly to the mixer and using the aux for reverb and stop there) you get that 90's sound. Which can be "cheeky" (dependand on the type of sound).. Its all a matter of taste offcourse. Some people like that sound, some dont.

The way outta this is probably "simple"; more processing on the direct chain after the synth!

Things i do alot:
- Use distortion: Overdrive, tape, whatever works
- Aggressive eq'ing (try removing quite a bit around the 640hz range on a filthy distorted detuned bass sound. Works wonders!)
- Dont be afraid to use big reverbs. Small room type reverbs can give it that smaller feel, and an occasional "cheaper" sound.
- Split the outgoing signal of your synth with the audio splitter and have different types of processing on both signals, feeding back into a 6:2 and give that output more processing or glueing.

There is tons of ways you can process the raw sound that synths generate, often giving a new array of sounds and textures aswell!

But ye, like matt said. Post an audio example. It'll give us more insight into the "issue"

A good way to get a fresh new sound in Reason is changing the patches in some type of way. In a test you can take a pad in subtractor and decrease attack and sustain faders in the Amp Envelope to turn it into an arp or maybe a bass. I call it "hybrid synth", because it allows me to create an instrument that was another stuff originally. However, change patches is always a good try, I think.

Thanks for that advice.Ive been using reason since 1.5 yet I'm always learning new techniques and discovering new methods from others.. Happy to be apart of this community with people who like to share knowledge..

well modern synth sounds are layered, drowning in automated efx and overproduced.
so twelve synths each making one part of the noise in a combinator, hours drawing in automation curves in the sequencer and lots of compression.

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